Three people have died aboard a cruise ship from a strain of hemorrhagic fever so rare that only a landfill bird-watching trip may have started it all.
The outbreak aboard the expedition cruise ship MV Hondius has a name now, and it's one epidemiologists take seriously. On May 6, the World Health Organization confirmed the strain is Andes virus — the only known hantavirus variant documented to transmit between people, not just from rodents to humans. South African health authorities separately confirmed the same finding after testing infected passengers.
Three passengers have died. The first death came nearly a month before hantavirus was even identified as the cause. As of May 6, five cases are lab-confirmed and at least three more are suspected among passengers and crew. Two people in serious condition were evacuated and flown to the Netherlands by air ambulance. A separate case emerged in Switzerland: a man who had traveled on an earlier leg of the voyage, disembarked, and flew home before falling ill — the first known case of illness appearing after a passenger had already left the ship.
Argentine officials, according to the Associated Press, suggested the outbreak may have originated during a bird-watching excursion that took a Dutch couple to a landfill, where exposure to rodents carrying the virus may have occurred before they boarded. The CDC activated a Level 3 emergency response — its lowest tier of activation, involving disease experts leading the effort with their own staff and possible assistance from the Emergency Activation Center. The agency has reached Level 1, which requires maximum staff working 24/7, only three times in its history: Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the H1N1 influenza outbreak in 2009, and the Ebola outbreak in 2014. At least five U.S. states and eleven other countries are currently monitoring people who disembarked before cases were confirmed. Two Georgia residents who returned home are being monitored and have shown no signs of infection. About 140 people remained aboard as the ship headed to Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, where passengers were to be allowed to disembark.
Gobble's Take: The situation is serious and being watched closely — the answer to "how worried should I be" depends almost entirely on whether you were on that ship.
Sources: CBS News · Perplexity/Forbes via Substack · CDC Newsroom
A 43-year-old woman in Kirkuk has tested positive for Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, according to Arjan Mohammed Rashid, head of Kirkuk's Health Department, who confirmed the results were returned from the central laboratory in Baghdad. She is under medical supervision at a hospital in Kirkuk. It is the first recorded case of CCHF in Kirkuk governorate this year.
Iraq has now recorded 10 CCHF cases in 2026, with nine of those concentrated in Dhi Qar province, according to Shafaq News tracking data. That is a markedly lower pace than the same stretch last year, when Iraq reported 53 confirmed infections and seven deaths in the first months of the year. CCHF is a tick-borne viral disease that spreads primarily when infected ticks bite humans, though animals — both domestic and wild — can carry and transmit the virus. Iraq has documented CCHF cases since 1979.
Whether this year's lower count reflects improved containment, seasonal variation, or incomplete reporting is not yet clear from available official sources.
Gobble's Take: Ten cases versus last year's 53 in the same period is a meaningful gap — worth watching to see whether it holds.
Source: Outbreak News Today
The CDC posted an investigation notice for a multistate Salmonella outbreak linked to pet veiled chameleons. All sick people are children 2 years old or younger.
Reptiles, including chameleons, are known carriers of Salmonella bacteria, which they can shed in their droppings and on their skin without appearing ill. Infants and toddlers face heightened risk because of their developing immune systems and the likelihood of hand-to-mouth contact after touching animals or contaminated surfaces. The CDC notice did not specify the number of cases or states involved in the sources available here.
The outbreak is an active investigation, and details are expected to be updated as the CDC gathers more information.
Gobble's Take: Veiled chameleons are genuinely fascinating animals — they are also, for households with infants, a documented Salmonella source that warrants careful thought before purchase.
Source: CDC Newsroom via APTRWEB
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